Standard testing protocols the way to open borders: Airbus Asia-Pac chief

Singapore

AMID restrictive border closures within the Asia-Pacific, there needs to be a shift away from such closures and quarantines towards standard testing protocols to restore travel, according to Anand Stanley, president (Asia-Pacific) for Airbus.

"The Asia-Pacific region has been the worst hit in terms of air traffic," he pointed out.

Hence, Singapore's announcements on Tuesday relating to its efforts to open up more routes within the region in a safe, measured way is the right way forward to restoring air traffic, Mr Stanley said. He added that Singapore can lead by example and bring down barriers by working with countries in the region where the rate of infection is low such as Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

The International Air Transport Association (Iata) too has been calling for systematic testing of all international travellers before departure, which will require Covid-19 tests that are quick, affordable, scalable and accurate. "Global standards will need to be developed to incorporate testing into the travel process," Iata said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that imposing quarantine requirements only discourages travel demand in the same way as border closures do.

As at late September, international travel was 92 per cent lower vis-a-vis 2019.

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In an interview with The Business Times, Mr Stanley - who assumed the role of Asia-Pacific president in July - highlighted that Airbus has been working with its customers in the region to help them adapt to the operating environment since the pandemic hit. This includes talks around postponing the delivery of aircraft, partnering on studies to boost consumer confidence, sharing best practices across airlines as well as collaborating with governments and suppliers.

"We are seeing the impact (from Covid) across all our operations in Singapore whether it is training, maintenance, repair and overhaul, or fleet maintenance," Mr Stanley added.

In Singapore, the group's operations include Airbus Services Asia Pacific, Airbus Helicopters Southeast Asia, an aircraft spare parts distribution centre and a joint venture flight training centre with Singapore Airlines.

In July, BT reported that the plane-maker had retrenched some of its employees in Singapore, although it declined to give numbers at the time as to how many were let go. At the end of the first quarter of this year, Airbus had some 830 staff in Singapore.

Still, Mr Stanley reiterated Airbus' commitment to Singapore - from which it serves the region - and also to growing here once business starts to pick up again.

Aside from its ongoing projects such as its Skyways drones, Airbus is also in talks with the government and agencies here on potential innovation projects. However, Mr Stanley declined to share further details at present.

In the long run, the fundamentals for the Asia-Pacific region, a core market for Airbus, remain sound, he went on to say.

All this comes as the global downturn has proven deeper and more protracted than anticipated, while recovery has been slower than expected.

The European plane-maker projects travel demand may only return to pre-Covid levels by 2023 at earliest, with domestic demand leading the recovery.

In China, for example, the number of domestic flights during the nation's Golden Week holiday this month surpassed that of last year's, according to data from Cirium.

With the travel industry deep in the doldrums, Airbus and Boeing have both announced plans to cut global headcount and slash production of aircraft.

Globally, Airbus is shedding some 15,000 jobs - or about 11 per cent of its workforce - with the majority of those positions in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain. This will be carried out through voluntary departures, early retirement, and long-term partial unemployment schemes although it has not ruled out lay-offs.

Airbus has cut production rates of its narrow-body A320s to 40 planes per month from an average of 60 planes monthly prior to Covid, while output for the wide-body A350 has about halved to five a month from 9 to 10 per month previously. The production rate for the A330 has dropped to two per month from the 40 it had planned to deliver for 2020 as a whole. Production for its A220s, however, has been maintained at four aircraft per month.

Airbus has ceased production of its A380 after airlines eschewed the jumbo jet in favour of smaller, next-generation aircraft - a trend that accelerated as the pandemic eroded travel demand.

As airlines in the region begin to put planes back in the air, what the plane-maker is seeing is a preference for new and efficient aircraft, noted Mr Stanley, adding that there are more A320neos dotting the skies today compared to a year ago despite the downturn.

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